Backpack blog Australia: A backpack filled with experience

Since a few days I’m home from Australia and I think I’m finally getting over my jetlag. So now I’m able to write again without falling asleep here are a couple of notable things from traveling alone in Australia on social, psychological and food level:

No worries! & Hello, how’re you?
Oh, how I loved that! Being friendly to one another is everything if you ask me. Trying it on the streets here results in annoyed faces.
Especially the last couple of days in the land I call home I noticed how uptight everyone here is and how laid back people are in Australia (and in other countries as well). And most important, how I too became more relaxed and how great I feel it is to keep in mind everything is gonna be fine anyway. Dutchies for you, seeing wrong in everything will not make your quality of life better. Being cold as we are is not gonna help anyone, definitely not yourself. Say ‘hi’ for a change or say it back and feel what difference it can make. Don’t look at people as if they have dirt on their faces when they do. There’s no wrong in kindness, don’t think the worst, don’t worry. Smile and the world will smile back at you.

Friends are made easily
While traveling alone I noticed friends are easily made. You just got to give it a go. If it doesn’t work out remember there are two parties involved and it doesn’t always mean it’s you if there’s no connection. At least you tried and tomorrow you don’t even remember the 5 embarrassing minutes. Yes, you did survive!
Also be prepared to experience intense but short and sometimes temporary friendships. You’ll make a lot of new friends, but lot’s will pass quickly. Just enjoy it while they last and with some the contact will be kept (:

Don’t fight the current: sometimes you got to go for the long swim
Literally and metaphorically this applies. As in life things come and go like waves. A rip current is seen as dangerous, dragging you out to sea, impossible to swim against.
Well then don’t. Fighting against it will exhaust you and you’ll probably drown. Use the current and go with the flow, because it wil eventually take you back to shore. The swim will only be a bit longer. In the end bearing it will help you more than fighting it.

Play out your comfort zone
If something is the perfect field for practicing things you normally wouldn’t do it is a place where you don’t know anyone. You can practice over and over again and take your time with it, adjusting until you’re finally comfortable doing things out your comfort zone. Give a chance to developing yourself. Like I said before, who cares when it goes wrong? It probably won’t be remembered anyway.

Chocolate honeycomb
The worst and best thing that happened to me. It’s so good, but so bad.

Fit, fitter, fittest
I don’t know why, but seeing all those people running, playing football and surfing every day got me highly motivated to go on with my fitness journey. It seems that health and fitness are high priority in Australia. Not only did I see lots of people work out, there’s a certain consciousness when it comes to food products (gluten free, whole grain etc.) more than what I’m used to, even in the supermarkets and smoking is really expensive compared to The Netherlands. Besides that the packages are covered with disturbing images, which seem to do their job!
Something I can’t get my head around though are the drive through bottle shops. Alcohol is not sold in the supermarket, but in bottleshops. Someone still has to explain to me how drive through bottleshops are any better. I mean, encouraging drunk driving much?

A girl has no identity
Apparently to most western people I look like an Asian (Chinese, Thai.. most just say: It’s all the same and think I’m related to any Asian person who stands next to me), while to all the Asian travellers I look like a white person.
Lots of Australian people also thought I was a kiwi, but definitely not Dutch. Mostly because my English doesn’t sound like Dunglish. Half a Dutchie, half an Indonesian, none of the persons I met during my travels could guess where I was actually from.

Next up pix edits and my personal highlights!
Here’s my cat touching the wall for no reason. It’s good to be home :’)

Find the rest of my backpack blog Australia under the section Travel (2015)